Tehran, Mar 1 (IANS): Iran said on Tuesday that the visit of senior Arab lawmakers to quake-ravaged Syria is a step toward greater "solidarity" in the region.

Making the remarks in a tweet, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said the visit of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union (AIPU) delegation on Sunday represented fresh "breakthroughs" in relations between Syria and other Arab countries, Xinhua news agency reported.

Headed by the Speaker of the Arab Parliament Adel Abdel-Rahman Al-Asoomi and Iraqi parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi, the delegation's Sunday visit was aimed at "expressing solidarity" with Syria following the deadly quakes that jolted the country on February 6, Kanaani noted.

These breakthroughs are also proof of greater "realism" in the region and in the Muslim world, he added.

If the regional countries can adopt "realistic and independent" national approaches and resist the demands of any hegemonic power, they will resolve their problems through dialogue and regional mechanisms, the spokesman said.

After the tragic earthquakes, Arab countries have sent many aid shipments to Syria amid signs of a wide-scale diplomatic detente.

The AIPU is a regional parliamentary organisation composed of parliamentary groups representing the Arab Parliament, the legislative body of the Arab League. Syria's membership in the Arab League was suspended in 2011 after the war broke out in the country.